Category Archives: Uncategorized

Apparently I have pretty bad road rage. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I began making a list of my biggest pet peeves, and I realized how many of them occur while I’m in a car. It’s one of my faults I guess. *shrugs*

I thought it would be fun to make a list of some of my biggest pet peeves, just to see if I have any in common with other people out there. Because, admit it, even the smallest things can easily become the biggest nuisance. Can you relate to any of my pet peeves that I’ve listed below?

The sound of a dog constantly licking himself.

I don’t know if it’s the repetition or just the disgusting sound of a wet tongue scraping fur (come on, you know that sound repulsive), but I can’t stand when I hear my dog cleaning his paws. I know he does it for a reason and I thank myself every day that I don’t have a cat for that exact reason.

When the car in front of me doesn’t turn right on red when allowed.

People who walk incredibly slow while taking up the entire side walk.

The sound of gum being chewed.

Tardiness

I can’t stand arriving late, no matter where I’m headed. I also get very frustrated and annoyed if I end up waiting on someone because they’re late. If you’re running late, the least you can do is notify the person you’re supposed to meet. Be courteous!

When people confuse your and you’re, to and too, and their, there, and they’re.

I don’t care if it’s just a text: get it right people!

When cars pull really far forward into a parking space, making you think it’s empty when it’s really not.

Yeah, bikers, I’m giving you the stink eye too.

Crooked parking or people who take up more than one space when parking. Also those who park too close or even over the line, not leaving enough room for even my Corolla to fit.

When people drive as far as they possibly can before trying to merge at the last minute.

I know you’re doing it on purpose because there’s no way you missed the half a dozen signs warning you that the lane was going to end. Be polite and merge sooner rather than trying to force your way into traffic. Ugh!

When someone who clearly has more than 10-15 items in their cart, gets in the 10 items of less line at the grocery.

When people use the words “gay” or “retarded” inappropriately.

This one’s a bit personal for me and it’s just about being respectful. I have two (soon to be three) special education teachers in my family. Gay marriage was legalized in the U.S. Learn to be accepting and respectful of all people. There are plenty of other words you can use in place of those that hurt people.

The smell of body odor.

When toilet paper is rolled under rather than over.

I will debate this until the day I die. Toilet paper is supposed to be rolled OVER. It just looks better that way, believe me.

People who talk while a movie is playing in a movie theater.

People spit in public.

Slow internet.

When every radio station is playing commercials at the same time.

Being tickled.

Yeah, I’m laughing, but I’m fuming on the inside.

People who drive slow in the fast lane.

MEERRRGGEEEEE!!!!

Getting stuck at consecutive red lights.

Aren’t those things supposed to be synced? If not, they should be!

So there you have it. The top twenty things that annoy me or frustrate me more than anything else. I know there’s plenty more, so perhaps eventually I’ll do a part two. But for now, tell me, do we have any pet peeves in common? I’d love to hear what your biggest pet peeves are!

Making Money As A Stay-At-Home Mom

Believe me when I say that I am thankful every single day to be able to stay at home with Will. It allows me to be a part of every one of his milestones and witness him grow up right before my eyes without feeling like I’m missing out.

But being a stay-at-home mom doesn’t mean I can just forgo the entire making money idea. I still have a car payment, cellphone bill, and many other monthly payments to make, so obviously I have to generate income from somewhere. So how exactly do I manage to make money, without even leaving my house?

Freelance Writing

My main source of income as a stay-at-home mom comes from freelance writing. I’ve been working as a freelancer for almost a year and a half. I began working for a company based out of Cincinnati that is still in the process of expansion. For them, I write recaps of syndicated television shows, to summarize what happened during each episode in case anyone missed it. The website I write for is called Recapo and lately the shows I’ve covered are The Dr Oz Show and The Doctors but I’ve also covered The Chew, Ellen, The View, The Today Show, and The Talk.

I only work for that company when there are new episodes, which means little to no work for me during the summer. However, when shows are back and all-new, I bring in a great income.

Writing For UpWork and BlogMutt

To supplement the income I get from Recapo and also to build my writing portfolio, I write for two other freelance websites: UpWork (formerly ODesk) and BlogMutt. I simply created a profile on UpWork and then whenever I can, I submit proposals to people looking for freelancers. I read job postings, determine if it’s a project I can complete, and then try to sell myself well enough to get them to choose me. I’ve made several hundred dollars in the past three months working for UpWork, and that’s by only working every now and then, not as much as I can. UpWork is great for both amateur and professional writers.

As for BlogMutt, I had to apply to become a writer for them, and after passing a test, I was “hired.” It’s another website that allows me to work as much as I want, when I want. I write articles based on the material a client is looking for, and if they like the article they can select it to be published on their blog. If my article is published, I get paid $8. The articles typically have to be at least 250 words, which means I can write an article in less than 15 minutes. So far I’ve written 8 articles for BlogMutt and have a 100% approval rate. I plan on writing for them much more in the future.

Both of these websites work through ghost writing, which means I don’t get credit for the material I submit. I’ve written about all kinds of topics including health and fitness, beauty, and pregnancy. I thoroughly enjoy writing, so to be able to do what I love, get paid for it, and stay at home with Will, is a true blessing!

Money-Making Apps

Another way I supplement my income as a stay-at-home mom is through the use of apps. While the income isn’t exactly enough to support my family with, it can easily total enough to cover one of my monthly bills. I just recently got started with SwagBucks, but I’ve been reading articles that show how you can pretty easily wrack up enough points for $50-100 in PayPal gift cards, as well as gift cards for stores like Target. It’s an easy way to bring in just a little extra cash with little to no effort!

Inbox Dollars and Viggle Apps

Other apps I use include Inbox Dollar and Viggle. I hardly use Inbox Dollars but just by filling out my information and checking my Inbox, I’ve made almost $20. You can earn more by answering surveys and performing searches through their search engine, but I’ve been using SwagBucks for that instead.

As for Viggle, you get points by watching TV and “checking in” as well as watching short ads and occasionally answering polls. You also get 100 points for every song you listen to. I’ve kind-of slacked off a bit with Viggle, but I’ve earned over 70,000 points so far.

With Viggle, your points can be redeemed for various items. The bigger, more expensive the item, the more points you need. You get 1 point for every 1 minute of TV watched when you check in, and an additional 20 points for every ad watched. So it takes a while to build up your points. The “most expensive” item you can turn in points for is an iPad mini, worth 1,665,000 points. You can also use your points to redeem items like merchandise, e-books, music, and gift cards. If you watch a lot of TV, this is the app for you!

Other, Random Ways I Bring In More Money

I also make a bit more money with a few other things, such as CrowdSource. CrowdSource is another website I had to apply to first, before I could actually start working. For them, I perform small tasks as a copy writer or quality assurance specialist, and receive anywhere from $.05 to $3.00 per task. The tasks can take just a few seconds or a lot longer, depending on what you decide to do. These are tasks I tend to do in my spare time, whenever I have nothing better to really do.

I’ve made around $20 on CrowdSource so far, again just working for a few minutes here and there. Just like BlogMutt, if I put more time into this site, I could earn more. Another great way to supplement income and some of the tasks can be really fun!

I also make a little extra money through UserTesting. It’s a website where companies pay to have people test out their websites to find out how user-friendly they are. To work for UserTesting, you have to pass a test that requires you to test out a website while you say out loud, what you’re thinking. If you’re hired, you can make $10 per test, which typically take around 10 minutes to complete, but the tasks come few and far between. I simply leave UserTesting open in a tab on my computer and listen for the “ding” that tells me a test is available. I’ve made as much as $100 in one month from UserTesting, so I can verify that it is legit.

The last significant way I have made extra money while being a stay-at-home mom, is by selling things on CraigsList. I’ve helped my parents sell their pop-up camper, sold landscaping bricks, and even old kitchen appliances. If you have things just lying around your house, why not try to sell them? If you price things reasonably, you’re sure to peak someone’s interest!

While I don’t exactly bring in loads and loads of money, I make more than enough to cover my expenses and then some. I can still treat Will and myself every once in a while and enjoy the occasional shopping spree. But I’m certainly money conscious and aware of my finances. I’m truly blessed to be able to stay at home with Will, while still bringing in money for my family.

Although I’m blessed to be a work-from-home mom, that doesn’t make weekends any less special. It’s my time to get out & go somewhere with Will, whether that be shopping or to the park or somewhere special for the day.

Last night I took Will to Target because I wanted to go ahead & get him a potty so he could become familiar with it. It’s better to start early right? I have a lot of reading to do on potty training boys!

Anyway, once we picked out Will’s potty throne, we ventured over to the toy section. Oh if you could have only seen the look at that boy’s face! He was enthralled!

If he could use his words it literally would have been “please” after “please” because he went from one toy to the next.

We left with only the toilet & sippy cups & a shirt that was on sale. Once again, all for Will none for mommy! But that’s okay ☺️ Really what I want to find is more outside toys for him — a basketball hoop in particular.

Then this morning we headed over to the yearly yardsale for DaySpring which is sort-of like an assisted living program for the mentally disabled/handicapped. My mom’s cousin currently lives in a DaySpring home so we are always happy to help the cause!

We found this great little bike for Will for just two bucks! I also got a bigger bike for him with attached training wheels for just $5, & a coffee table for $10. Hopefully sooner rather than later I’ll have my own place to fill with all my furniture, no matter how mismatched it may be!

Other than that, our weekend has been spent just enjoying time with each other! My little boy is developing such a big personality & every day is an adventure, but I still take advantage of sweet cuddle moments when I can. (Like when he’s watching Jake & the Neverland Pirates or Doc McStuffins). This kid can dance to the Doc theme song like no other!

Ignore my pout, I promise I’m a happy mom!

How is your weekend going to far? Anything super fun happening near you?

We Went To The Zoo!

He loved petting the metal Komodo dragon!

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! On Wednesday June 3, I took Will to the zoo! My brother and his girlfriend joined us, which was definitely a treat. I recently purchased a zoo pass that allows me to take a guest with me for free, as well as Will, and the pass pretty much pays for itself after just a few visits.

Another great money-smart decision I made was to pack a lunch. I think it’s fantastic that the zoo allows you to bring in a cooler full of food and drinks! Before we left and while Will was taking his morning nap, I made sandwiches for all of us, and packed bags of chips and grapes. I also loaded the cooler with water bottles to keep the food cool and to have something to drink. It was about 65-70 degrees and overcast so it was actually a perfect day to visit the zoo to avoid getting too hot or sunburned.

Lego Brick Sculptures At The Louisville Zoo

One of the first things we noticed was that the Louisville Zoo was featuring dozens of Lego Brick sculptures throughout the park.

We took advantage of the neat sculptures and got an adorable photo!

Right inside the entrance was this adorable photo booth, for a lack of a better description, made entirely out of Lego’s! Next to each sculpture was a description that included how many Lego’s were used to make it and how many hours it took. It was truly incredible to see and every time we spotted a sculpture we would point out the facts. At one point we even did a little math to determine how many days the artist likely spent creating his pieces. For one it was around 50 days!

A Great Learning Experience

We checked out the polar bears, brown bears, and then hung around waiting for the sea lion show. The show was short, only 9 minutes long, but we learned where the sea lions came from and how they’re trained. It was great for kids to learn that the sea lions were rescued, not captured. One sea lion in particular kept coming back to the rescue facility, even after being released three times! It was also neat to learn about how the sea lions swim and what they eat. Although it was a short show, it was great for all the kids that were in attendance. The ones in the front row even got splashed after one used his flippers to splash them!

Will loved seeing the sea lions swim around and splash water!

Although he couldn’t really grasp what the trainers were saying, Will loved watching the sea lions, and even imitated their barking sounds!

It turned out to be a fabulous day and a fun trip to the zoo! In fact, I think my brother enjoyed it just as much as Will did!

How do you make a trip to the zoo into a learning experience? What are you favorite ways to enjoy a zoo trip?

“Would you want to run a 5k Saturday” My sister texted me early Friday morning.

My immediate thought was “absolutely” but that was quickly followed by a “but I haven’t run longer than a mile at a time in over two years.”

The truth was, I hadn’t run distance since I found out I was pregnant with my now 14-month-old son. I had been running intervals and had just started a Couch to 5k program on my phone, but I was only on week two.

So, as you likely gathered from my title, I agreed to do it. I was nervous but excited and figured it’d be good to start somewhere and see where I’m at. Besides, “we can always walk if you need to” is what my sister kept reminding me.

So Saturday morning at 8:00 AM, I took off on my first 5k with my sister at my side. We only stopped to walk twice, while drinking water, for a total of about 30 feet I’d say. The rest we jogged and we finished in 34 minutes, 27 seconds. Obviously not the best time, but a great starting point.

I was nervous, anxious, but incredibly excited. More than anything, I was incredibly grateful my sister encouraged me to do it. Now, I deleted the Couch to 5k program and replaced it with a 10k training program!